Before the Warrior
by S. Snowflake
Summary: The final, revised edition with notes is finally here! This is a Seven-centric "9" prequel about a clan in the beginnings of turmoil, a horrific beast, and the rise of an unlikely warrior. Rated to be safe, since there's some violence and a bit of language.
1. The Beast

_Author's Note/Disclaimer: Welcome to this very special revision of my_ 9_ fanfiction, _Before the Warrior_! I revised this as a contest entry on deviantart and as something I had been meaning to do after completing the original draft about a year ago. With revisions large and small for this piece presented the way it is now, I feel it's only appropriate to infuse this edition with little author's notes at the end of each chapter about what important revisions I made and other things about the writing process. Of course, you guys don't have to read them, but I feel it's interesting commentary all the same. _

_Thank you to Celestial Rainstorm, Jenny-Jen, and Frosty Starlight for writing _9 _fanfictions that inspired me to write this piece. I also thank my sister's support and reviews, which you can find here. As always, this story is dedicated to my father and grandmother, who are probably yucking it up over my original draft's typos in Heaven. I do not own _9 _or any of the characters in it_. _I also do not own any songs or lyrics I've quoted throughout this story._

_I wrote this first chapter during one of the first days I spent in my family's new(er) home. We had a friend building onto the place and I had little to do except sit and write, which I did. The whole first chapter in its roughest form was the result of thinking about my own origin story for the character of Seven. This revision changes a bit of dialog from One, who I thought was too extreme. There is also more focus on Seven's point of view than before, where my points of view would change without warning._

_And with that, I give you chapter one.  
_

_*S. Snowflake. _

* * *

_**Before the Warrior**_

**Chapter One: The Beast**

"_I want adventure in the great, wide somewhere._

_I want it more than I can tell."_

–Beauty and the Beast.

The cathedral walls were illuminated by the bright sunlight that shone through the stained glass at sunset. The colorful beams from the icons of religious figures contrasted beautifully with the shadows leaking in of the destroyed buildings just beyond the great windows. The beauty, however, is what made the cathedral rather hollow and sad, for it had once been a place of comfort in the time of man. Now it was a place of survival for the unusual beings that lived there.

The beings were small rag doll creatures called stitchpunks. They were humanoid and no two looked exactly alike, though all had been born in the same "first room" and were named based on numbers etched into their backs. They lived in the church initially to only wait for the great Machine-Human war to end, but now that the world was silent, they still waited. To one particular stitchpunk, the waiting had become intolerable.

Doll number seven, or simply Seven, sat in the church rafters one fateful evening as she often did. She admired the colors as any creature with an appreciation for beauty would, but they inspired her to do something brave, as lately her coven had been quite shaken up. All she could do was wait for their leader to make a choice on the matter.

"I'm worried about them, One," said one old male voice far below her.

"They were the ones who were reckless, it is their price to pay if they are in danger," said the other (and also older male) voice.

Seven peeked her head over the beam to listen to One and Two talk about what she had been hoping would be discussed. Two members of their coven had disappeared recently and she knew that it would be talked about. It was up to One, as leader, to make the call on whether the coven would go find them or stay inside, but she had a bad feeling in her circuitry on what his answer would be.

"Come now, you know how curious the twins are," Two argued.

One grumbled. "Curiosity killed the cat, and possibly Three and Four. There's nothing we can do about them now, Two."

Two faltered, but stood his ground against the older One. Seven knew that while One took automatic authority in the group, Two had the lion share of wisdom. He would know what to do, and perhaps One would listen this time.

"We could go out there and look for them."

"Who is this _we_ you speak of? I'm not risking my life out there," One said. "Only a fool would risk his entire coven for the few." Then One turned away from Two, leaving him alone in the corridor.

Seeing Two hurt, the female doll climbed down from her perch and quietly walked up to him. "Two?" she asked.

He turned with an old, wrinkled smile despite the clear sadness in his slightly off eyes. His old burlap stretched and the shoelaces that made up his front did likewise. "Seven, nice to see you, dear. How long have you been in here?"

"Long enough to hear that One doesn't want to help the twins," she said, "Three and Four have been gone more than a day now." She paused and looked to the floor. "Why can't One see that we need to watch out for each other to survive?"

Two nodded sympathetically. "He does, but he sees the survival of the many as the best way."

"I want to help you find them out there," she stated, not allowing One's decision to affect her's.

Two smiled. "That's very brave of you, but I couldn't allow myself put both of our lives in danger."

Seven reached her right hand out and placed it on Two's shoulder. "It's not only your decision. Besides, we haven't heard a sound outside in weeks. Five told me everything looks crystal clear from the scope."

Two lightly scratched at the metal plate on his head. With Seven and Five there to help, surely they'd find something out there, hopefully even the twins.

"I guess my mind's made up for me then," said the old stitchpunk and turned around. "Come along. Let's fetch Five from the watchtower."

Seven followed the elder with a smile.

* * *

The moonlight just barely peeked through the clouds. These thick clouds showed no sign of rain approaching, but were the ever-present products of poison gas and other pollutants. Though the stitchpunks had no sensitivity to the toxic sky, it was still a depressing night for the three scouts to venture into. Seven took the lead, moving gracefully through the ruins, while Two looked on from afar and Five guarded the rear, trembling slightly.

Five was a young male stitchpunk made from burlap. He was fairly average in appearance this way, with red buttons closing up his torso region, but he did have one peculiarity. In place of his left eye was a patch of leather. Due to a terrible accident in the war, Five had lost that eye. The reminder of what making a mistake could do was forever imprinted on his face and mind, and it made him quite timid.

"The coast seems clear for another fifty feet," Seven announced from a high perch. How the girl had managed to get all the way to the top of what remained of a mailbox, Two and Five could not be sure.

"Any movement?" asked the elder as the female leapt down.

"Not that I can tell," she reported and looked to Five with disappointment. "Come on. We're burning moonlight."

"She's going to get herself killed," Five remarked to Two as they followed her.

After a time, Seven stopped dead in her tracks and looked down at her feet. "Two, Five, come here!" she shouted, pointing to her discovery. The two males soon caught up to her and looked at the ground with astonishment.

"Footprints!" Two remarked. "And they're so small."

"They _have_ to be the twins'," Five added. "It's two sets of tracks right over each other."

Seven's spirit lifted even higher at the thought of finding Three and Four and she took off toward the direction of the footprints. "Come on!" she called.

Two followed her, but a thought occurred to Five and he stayed stuck to the spot. "Did you even check to see if that way was safe?" he asked, but it was too late. She was already far out of earshot. She soon vanished behind the rusted hood of an old automobile, and Five could only follow her and his mentor.

Seven's emotional high was still running strong, and she followed the tracks as precisely as she could, hunting for any sign of the twins. She did not think once about where she was headed. And when she heard a light movement of metal tapping against metal, she stopped altogether.

"Three? Four?" she called softly, hoping they would recognize her voice and come out. When a small, bright light flickered ahead in the darkness, her heart leaped for joy. The twins _must _have been using their optic lights to see in the dark and were coming for her, she thought. She called their names louder, expecting them to appear any second.

But then the small light began to grow larger, and much brighter, as she waved to it. Seven realized that she was in trouble even before a piercing red light shone on her chest and a great, terrible roar erupted from something in the dark.

The creature was monstrous. It stared her down with one red, laser-like eye while the other white eye near blinded her with flooding light. Its head was made from the skull of a big cat, likely a tiger or lion, and it was placed upon a skeletal body formed from shafts of steel, bone, and wood. She could not help but gawk at the horrible monster as new features–sharp spikes–protruded from its back.

"Seven, get out of there!" came Two's terrified voice.

Seven's senses came back to her and she jumped out of the way. It was good timing too, as the creature swiped a metal paw at her and she narrowly escaped it.

The cat creature growled and leaped toward the spot that it could sense its prey had run to. It snapped at her with its sharp teeth as it gave chase. She could not find anything to hide in and did not want to lead this monster toward Two and Five, so she climbed over a few cinder blocks, having the great cat follow her all the way.

She stopped running when she reached in a jungle of old pipes left from a manor, having to climb up and away from the creature that already was far taller than her. When she finally reached a perch too high for the creature to reach her, she rested, breathing in and out deeply and tried to find a way to escape.

Her thinking was cut short when the pipe that she was standing on began to rock back and forth violently. She had not found a good place to rest. Looking down, she saw the beast prying at the pipe with its paws and making it wrench. This monster was stronger than it looked, and it looked pretty strong to start with. She tried to leap off the pipe, but instead ended up right in the beast's paw, struggling in the middle of four blade-like claws.

The beast seemed to snicker before tossing her into an old can with a sharp 'pong' noise. The pale doll tried to recuperate before she saw Two run into the pipe jungle and distract the beast. His diversion was useless though, as the beast quickly took chase. Then it grabbed him in its mouth and shook him violently in an attempt to kill him.

Seven knew then that she could not run away. She grabbed a rock, charged straight toward the beast, and climbed up its back to the base of the skull, banging at the lower jaw with the rock until it released the elder. Just as quickly as her small victory was assured though, the monster whipped its head and sent her flying again.

Before she could even sit back up, the beast struck her again, mercilessly slicing a large gash in her back with its claws. Trying to get away was futile, and Seven winced as she understood her situation.

_At least Two and Five will still be alive_, she thought…

At the last possible moment, a rumble sounded before a cascade of rubble came crashing down on the beast. A large chunk of debris crushed its back leg and held it to the spot. Seven might have well been crushed to death before someone dragged her away from the scene. She could just barely make out the silhouette of Two standing over the pile of rubble he had carefully caused to fall through the dust clouds. She struggled in Five's grasp to return to the battlefield.

When they were fifty feet or so from the wreckage, Five carefully sat her up against a plank of wood, knowing that she was badly injured.

"Where's Two?" she croaked weakly.

"Are you okay?" Five asked, ignoring her question.

Seven struggled and attempted to stand up, crawling up to look over at the pipe yard. "I'm fine, but I've got to find Two!"

She stood up feebly and tried to find the elder, ignoring the cries of Five behind her and the bad injury she had sustained. She braced herself when she saw a shadow coming toward her in the dark, but this time it proved to be Two, and she smiled.

"You're okay," she muttered, reaching out to the elder before falling to her knees in exhaustion. Two took her left arm while Five took her right and they propped her back up.

"Yes, dear, I'm fine," Two said quietly, "But I don't think you're in such good shape."

Seven hung her head involuntarily as her two comrades walked her back to the sanctuary. Just as she was about to pass out from sheer fatigue, she heard the roar of the beast in the distance. It was still alive, but it was not satisfied.


	2. Of Wounds and Cowards

_**Before the Warrior**_

**Chapter Two: Of Wounds and Cowards**

"_My mind is clearer now._

_At last, all too well,_

_I can see where we all soon will be…"_

Seven awoke from her sleep in Two's workshop. He and Five had already dressed the wound in her back and had found no foreign objects or dents that might cause harm within her spinal machinery, but a layer of padding and her canvas skin had been badly torn by the beast's claws, and they knew they would have to do some replacements.

Two retrieved a rubber glove from his supply box. He cut a large square from the palm then turned to Seven. "Five and I are going to replace some of your back padding with this rubber sheet. It won't be as sturdy as the old one, but it'll hold and might make you a little more flexible. Unfortunately-" He paused and scratched his head, "-there's no way to sew your back into place. I'm afraid we'll have to patch it up with this."

He held up a scrap of brown leather, similar to the kind that was over Five's face. Seven grimaced as she looked at it. She was about to lose her number, her identity. How could she have been so foolish to let this happen? At last, she nodded, knowing that it had to be done.

"Would you like to be asleep while we operate?" Two asked. "I know it's not pleasant."

"No, that's all right," Seven answered. "I-I've had enough sleeping for one day, I think."

Two smiled. "That's a strong girl."

Seven tried not to look as the procedure continued. Holding still while feeling her inner structure get cut away was difficult. She was not in pain at all. Her kind was blessed with the ability to shut off pain sensors when need be, but it still was hard to ignore. The epoxy that glued the sheet of rubber to her back was cool and sticky, and she tapped her fingers on the table from such odd sensations. Five noticed this and held her hand gently, which made her feel much more comfortable during the operation.

Finally, the leather patch was put into place right over her old number. Again the guilt seemed to egg at her with every puncture of the needle.

_You could have listened._

_You could have done as you were told._

_You could still have this number._

_You could have killed yourself._

_You could have killed Five, or Two._

_You didn't fight hard enough._

When at last Five cut the thread on her back, Seven stood up again, feeling much better, but thinking about too much. She walked around a bit to test her strength, trying to shake off her thoughts. She stole a glance at a shard of a mirror to see what remained of her number before sitting down once more.

"How do you feel?" Two asked.

"All right," Seven grumbled before shutting her eyes, "But I think I need to lie down for just a little longer."

Two nodded and gathered all of the tools he had used before putting them away. Five stayed beside her the whole time, still trying to comfort her in some way. Just as she was about to dose off, Two addressed her again.

"When you're ready, One wants to speak with all of us."

* * *

"A _beast_?" One blared at the three stitchpunks the next day. "I told you not to go out there, and I was right to believe that there was danger, wasn't I?"

"You _never_ said for us not to go," Seven snapped, "-You just told Two that we_ all_ shouldn't look for the twins. Five, Two and I decided to go without you."

"And my, look how that turned out," One said and turned to Five who was in the back of the group. "I see that you still have one eye to speak of. At least that's a blessing."

"One, Five's is an old injury," Two said.

The old leader huffed and turned to Seven. "And I'm sure you're enjoying that nice back replacement of yours, aren't you, miss Seven? Perhaps if you simply minded your place, that wouldn't have happened."

"My place? My_ place_?" Seven barked, ready to lunge at the old leader. "Y-you're such a-a _coward_, you could never give up your imaginary place!"

One glared at her. He had never gotten along well with the female, but today she had crossed a line no one else had even made a step over. She was officially a threat. "Eight," he said quietly.

One's henchman Eight was a huge stitchpunk made of various fabrics who brandished a meat cleaver at his side to intimidate his victims before a good beating. He lumbered out from the corner of the room where he had been watching the entire scene. A dark smile crept up his face.

"I thought I wasn't s'posed to hit girls," he said in his deep voice before grabbing Seven by the arm and lifting her up to his height.

"You're not…unless they hit you first," she said.

"Huh?" Eight muttered before recieving a good, strong kick in the face from Seven and dropping her. She smiled at the momentary defeat of her stronger comrade before locking optics with One. "Why don't you just fight me instead of having Eight do your dirty work?"

One raised an eyebrow at Seven's threat before laughing. "Why bother? I have no time to go fighting a woman."

"Why you!" Seven growled and charged right at One. Just as she had done so though, Two, Five and Eight held her back. "Let me go! Let me go!" she pleaded, kicking at all of them.

"Take her to the confession chamber and let her calm down," One said and looked to Two. "We need to move our shelter as high as we can to stay away from this beast. You must begin building."

"Yes, old friend," Two said with a nod as the three of them dragged the furious Seven away from the throne room.

"_It was beautiful, but now it's sour._

_Yes, it's all gone sour…"_

–Jesus Christ Superstar.

* * *

_Author's Note: This second chapter came to me shortly after the original. Though it is mostly dialog, it was intense enough to just get out and feel connected to the characters in a different way than chapter one. I did make something of a change in Seven's epic stand against One, but I felt it was more natural this time around. The song I quoted from _Jesus Christ Superstar _is truly a powerful one, and something I'd recommend to anyone regardless of your religious affiliation. _


	3. Torn Edges

_**Before the Warrior**_

**Chapter Three: Torn Edges**

"_Build higher walls around me._

_Change every lock and key._

_Nothing lasts, nothing holds all of me,"_

-Beauty and the Beast.

Seven seethed with anger every day she sat in the rafters alone. One had ordered Eight to keep her prisoner inside the old confession room for a whole day, and she fought and screamed with a spirit she had never wielded upon the elder trapped inside. It had been a humiliating and revealing experience.

She watched as Five and Two began to take everything (save for their working supplies that were far too heavy) up past the rafters, right into the area by the great center stained glass window. Now that One was convinced a beast attack would come from below, as opposed to a bombing from above, everything had to move. Two installed old Christmas lights he had found once in the no man's land and trailed them up the rafters decoratively. The lights provided illumination as he and Five worked to hide the chamber from any view from the outside. The bottom of the old church was already dark enough to Seven, and now it looked like a prison cell.

During this time of brooding over her humiliation and watching her home become smaller and smaller, Seven almost never left her view from the rafters. She was defiant about appearing at One's meetings or even speaking to the elder.

Then one morning, Seven awoke to find Eight stepping precariously on one of her rafters.

_I wonder how strong a kick it would take to send him over the edge_, she thought as he approached her slowly.

"One wants to see you," grumbled the brute.

She glared. "And if I refuse?"

Eight frowned at her and said in a slightly menacing tone, "I make you come with me."

Seven controlled the anger inside her, simmering as she followed behind the lumbering Eight. She knew that he thought differently about this situation somewhere deep down, but he was just too loyal to One.

When they at last reached One's new room, Seven's head almost cleared. Of course One had chosen the finest place for his living quarters. A large chair sat in the corner of the chamber, almost like a throne. It allowed him a nice view of his self-made prison as well as a blanket of colors from the stained glass window above to come shining in upon him. But what really made Seven take a pause was One himself. The old leader had found the remains of a red curtain or cloth from the church, and had draped a small section of it over his back like a cape. It reminded her of one of the human emperors that the twins had showed her in a book; someone named Napoleon…

"Ah Seven, I've been meaning to have a word with you," began the old leader.

Seven searched for something to say back that was not too argumentative. She certainly did not want to lose control again.

"I would have liked it to have been on friendlier terms."

"As would I, but these are the consequences of our actions," One said bluntly. "However, I'd prefer to move past that argument and settle this. I know that you haven't appeared at the last few meetings, Seven. It's a shame really, but I'll let you know in advance that I forgive you."

"I am _not _here to apologize, One," Seven growled.

"I know that," he replied, "-but I know you are sorry deep down for the way you acted, if only because you embarrassed yourself. Honestly, I never knew you had that sort of anger in you–"

"-I still want to help the twins," she interrupted him. "I fought against that monster, and I know that it can be destroyed. If we form a search party, we can rescue Three and Four and find out how to stop it for good."

One sneered at her idea and raised a hand, as if to cast her aside.

"Please One, listen to me!" she pleaded. "I know that you're afraid of the outside, but I only want to ask for help, and after that, I promise… I-I won't be a bother any longer."

One turned to look at her, interested in her momentary surrender. "Very well," he granted, making her smile with surprise, "-But as leader, I demand that the forming of a search party be conducted here under my supervision."

"It's a deal," Seven said, still surprised at One's agreement. She did not catch the subtle look of control in his slanted optics.

One nodded and told his henchman to retrieve Two, Six, and Five. The brutish stitchpunk returned with the two builders soon after, both tired and confused about why their jobs had been interrupted. Six was dragged out of the corner of the chamber where he had evidently been listening the whole time. They all stood in a semicircle around Seven, making her the center of attention and criticism.

"My friends," One began, "Seven has requested your presence so that she might gather a search party to find the lost twins."

There was a murmur around the group that the female caught after One's introduction. Whether it was of approval or not, she could not be sure, but they were taking the leader's words into consideration.

One put on his most solemn face when we spoke of the twins. "We all know of the tragedy of the recent disappearance. But before she recruits, I'd like to remind you all of your own safety. I believe it would be in all of our best interests to stay away from this creature. It could follow any of us back to our sanctuary, and then we will all be prey."

There was more muttering around the group at this. Five in particular seemed terrified at the thought of the beast finding their hideout and said something to the effect of, "I'm not going out there!"

"-Secondly," continued One, "this beast is not to be trifled with. We know from experience the power of the machines, but this creature quite easily injured a comrade, the same one that is recruiting you."

Seven glared at One for that and covered her scar that burned her as if it were on fire. "Now, wait a minute, everyone!" she yelped, trying to regain her composure. "If we work together, we can take down that monster. It's fast and dangerous, but we outnumber it six to one, and we're smarter than it will ever be."

"-But Seven, it could kill all of us," Five interjected.

Seven turned her focus to the one-eyed doll. "-And that's why we have to help the twins. What if they're still alive? We can't just leave them out there to be killed by this nightmare." She looked around the group and saw the sunken faces of her friends. "-We-we can't just leave family to die out there. You-you don't really think that they're gone, do you?"

Two looked into her optics with sheer sadness. "My dear, if we couldn't last more than a few hours out there, Three and Four wouldn't have survived the first night they were lost. How could they have been prepared for the beast's attack on their own?"

If Seven had been capable of crying, she knew that she would have been holding back tears. She could not see how her family could be so hopeless. Didn't they want to take a chance and have the twins back? Didn't they want to take the outside world into their own hands?

One tapped his staff. "The choice is entirely yours, my friends. Follow Seven and face the world outside, or stay in the sanctuary where you'll be protected. All in favor of joining Seven?"

And around the circle, not one voice responded. Not one hand was raised. All the eyes of the stitchpunks looked to the floor, not wanting to disappoint spirited Seven.

"And all in favor of staying in the sanctuary?" One asked.

Eight, Five, and Two raised their hands slightly above their heads and looked to One. Six did not vote, and they left it at that.

Seven recognized the group's fear and One's influence over them. She did not have power over the others like One, and never would. She turned away from the group and walked out to her post, her head hanging the entire time.

"Torn," Six muttered, though no one heard him.

* * *

_Author's Note__: I remember writing the original draft of this chapter in a library and found it an interesting piece about power and how it channels through a group of characters in a story. There is a definite change in Seven's interests about the outside in this revised version, as in the original, she was more concerned with getting the others to reclaim the world outside than get the twins back. I felt the latter goal was more important to bring to the forefront, at least in this chapter. Her character develops different obsessions about her purpose and plans as the story goes on. Also, if the above quote does not sound familiar to you, that's probably because it's from the Broadway musical _Beauty and the Beast _rather than the film. Check out the song _Home _if you want to hear the inspiration._


	4. Flight

_**Before the Warrior**_

**Chapter Four: Flight**

"_Shadowland, the leaves have fallen._

_This shadowed land; this was our home._

_The river's dry, the ground has broken,_

_So I must go. Now I must go…"_

The emptiness was quiet as Seven searched for the twins. The winds were no interference and she could see perfectly, but she still felt nervous. It was more than the omnipresent threat of the beast. She knew that something was very, very wrong.

"Three? Four?" she called, hoping for an answer amongst the silence. There had been no reply the last twenty times or so she had called. She was about to give up when she spotted movement out of the corner of her eye.

"T-twins?" she stuttered.

From her safe distance, the hooded stitchpunk Three appeared from his hiding place. His sister's head poked out behind him. The twin dolls swiftly ran over to greet her, though in a more urgent than friendly manner.

Seven felt so happy she could hardly believe that her friends were really here. "I-I'm so happy to see you! I can't believe–"

She was silenced by Three signaling for her to keep quiet and Four grabbing her arm. Then the monster's mighty roar echoed around them and she crouched down in fear. Her back scar was shooting pain all through her body.

The great beast appeared and began searching about with its red, demon eye. Seven curled up to hide from the creature and shut her eyes in fear, though she could no longer feel the twins beside her. When she mustered up the courage to look at last, she found that they were indeed gone and (to her horror) trying to fight off the creature on their own.

"No!" she yelled, but it was too late. Four was already trapped underneath one of the beast's paws and Three merely threw stones at its head to distract it. It was a futile attempt. The creature slashed Four right down her middle with a long claw and proceeded to destroy her central heart mechanism. There would be no recovery from that wound.

Seven ran out to intervene, shaking as she realized that Four was now dead. She ran up the beast's back and struck it with a makeshift spear. Just as it had done when she tried that attack before, the creature sent her flying, but even farther. She watched as it cornered little Three before grabbing him in its mouth and shaking him violently. Then it tossed the twin doll in the air and shattered his heart mechanism with one precise bite. Seven had no time to mourn her brother of sorts, for the creature's red eye focused on her next. She panicked and began to run, only to be trapped underneath the paw of the monster.

The beast's red, demon eye seemed to stare right into her soul, and the young rag doll could not contain herself as she let out an ear-piercing scream…

Seven awoke with a jolt, shaking as the terror of her nightmare dissolved. This dream had been haunting her for days, though in variations. Sometimes it was just her fighting the beast, and sometimes it was only the beast and the twins. Once, she was the one hunting the beast down rather than the other way 'round. Sometimes no casualties occurred, but an endless chase ensued and she would wake up nearly falling off her rafter perch from her imaginary flight.

Of course she had kept her promise to One after the vote. She no longer interfered with his plans to build a safe fortress from the beast, and withdrew into her tiny corner of the equally tiny sanctuary where the walls only grew higher around her.

More restless than ever, Seven did not expect Five to visit her rafters one afternoon. She sighed and turned away from him, not wanting his company.

"Seven?" the one-eyed stitchpunk started, scratching his eye patch nervously. When the female did not reply, he continued, "C-could I talk to you?"

The pale doll turned her head slightly, trying not to make eye contact with her friend. "Talk all you want, but I might not answer every time."

"That's fine by me," Five replied and approached his friend with a warm smile.

Seven found it difficult not to smile back at Five then. They had known each other for so long, it was as if they were siblings.

"We're all worried about you," Five started, "You never come down from here anymore. I–wedon't want you to shut yourself away like this."

"What difference does it make? You and Two are doing a great job of shutting me up here anyway," she venomously retorted.

"But what choice do we have?" Five asked.

She did not answer that question. She had offered them all another chance, and they had given up on her.

Five shut his one optic and sighed. "Look, I feel just as terrible about leaving the twins out there as your do. I don't want them to die, Seven." He placed one hand carefully over hers, trying not to overstep a boundary line. "-But I don't want either of us to get hurt either."

Seven was not entirely comfortable with Five's hand being so close to hers. She removed her hand from her friend's grasp and looked out across the beams at the fire orange stained glass window so far away from her.

"Someone has to do something," she mumbled in something of a reply.

Five blinked. "Maybe it's not our place to change things, Seven. Maybe something–maybe someone–will someday. But not us. We're just Five and Seven."

She sighed and absentmindedly scratched at her back, feeling the rough fabric over her number. It seemed to sting at the touch. It was foolish to grieve over the scar, yet somehow she attributed her number to her identity. She was Seven, wasn't she? Or was she something else now, cut open to face the raw air like her back? Glancing over at Five and seeing his eye patch, she felt even more guilty about crying over her number.

"Five, if-if you don't mind me asking, have you really put losing your eye behind you? I mean…I'm only curious," she muttered, gesturing to her back scar.

Five understood and nodded. "I don't care that I have one eye, it's the memory that gets to me." He shut his eye briefly, shaking off the horrors of the machine war.

She grimaced. "You were so young then too. So curious."

"Hey!" Five exclaimed and nudged his friend's arm playfully, making her laugh. "-I'm not old or anything! Besides, don't you go forgetting you're younger than me."

Seven chuckled. "Right. I have to admit sometimes I forget that."

He smiled and looked into her eyes with meaning. "You know, you saved me and Two's lives out there. It was the most fearless thing I've ever seen, and…well, I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'll always be grateful for another day to be alive."

She smiled, thinking of how Five and Two had saved her life as well. "I guess you both returned the favor. Still, I just wonder if you feel that you–I don't know, _lost_ part of who you were on that day."

"Well, that's kind of silly to ask," Five replied. "You can't lose who you are in an injury. You have to really change to become someone else."

Seven thought about those words. Perhaps she really was experiencing a change in herself. Maybe her scar only cemented the transformation from the Seven that spent all her time in the rafters dreaming into…Well, that she hadn't figured out yet.

"Seven?" Five asked, "You okay?"

"Huh? Oh-oh yeah, I'm fine," she mumbled, realizing that she had dazed at her friend's words. She did not speak any more though, and they sat together in silence for a while longer.

"Hey, do you really think that one day we _will_ be able to go outside and be safe again, Seven?" Five finally asked as he looked out the fire orange pane of stained glass in front of them.

Seven looked at the light outside too. She stared at the ember and marigold colors shining in, wondering about what the future held.

She answered her questions: Life would always be this. She would always be living on the inside looking out, being haunted by her dreams, and never knowing if the twins were alive. She would just be another good member of the clan, destined for nothingness, unless she decided to do the unthinkable.

She glanced at Five's face, so hopeful that one day things would change for them, and knew instantly what her choice was. She grasped his hand tightly in her own, storing his spirit in her heart and swallowing all her fear. She would need to be strong, empowered, and above all, brave now. And for all she knew, this would be the last time she saw him, and she needed him to know that she cared.

"I hope so, Five. I really hope so."

* * *

_This shouldn't be too difficult,_ Seven thought that night as she climbed down the rafters.

She tiptoed quietly across the old wooden beams of the cathedral, being careful not to make any noise. She knew where everyone slept in the sanctuary, and so it was easy to avoid being spotted or heard. Unfortunately there were two obstacles to attend to. First, there was Eight. He patrolled the cathedral floor now. Then there was the workshop where Two slept. She needed to take supplies from the elder if she wanted to survive.

Eight proved to be no obstacle at all. The thug was sitting in wait on his vigil, but he just sat there. Seven noticed that he was holding something up over his head and soon realized that it was a magnet. She nearly laughed as she passed by the magnetically high rag doll that could only mumble, "Weee-woooh…" as his mental destruction continued.

At last, Seven reached the workshop. She could just make out a tool satchel lying on the floor and crawled over quietly to retrieve it. She realized quickly that she was literally crawling to Two's bedside, as the old stitchpunk's arm dangled over the satchel. Slowly, she moved the satchel away from its owner and stood back on her feet, careful not to wake him. She felt along the wall until she reached Two and Five's workbench, where she knew that defensive tools resided. She managed to stash a few nail daggers and a string of yarn before the glint of the medics' scissors caught her eye.

_Now _those _would make a decent weapon! _she thought.

Just as she had climbed on top of the workbench and grabbed the scissors, she tripped over a metal screw and fell off with a yelp, causing quite a clatter in the tiny workshop.

"Wh-what? Who's there?" Two muttered as he woke up. Switching on a lightbulb, he saw Seven scrambling to right herself and stared at her. "What are you doing here in the middle of the night? And why do you have my satchel?"

"P-please, Two, I can explain…" she muttered, picking up a few things.

"Well, I hope you can. From what it looks like, you've either taken up an interest in engineering or you're stealing my scissors and satchel."

"Well, you see, I-I…" she muttered, twiddling her fingers in thought of how to get out of this predicament. Two's optics narrowed as she looked into them, and she knew that she could not lie to him.

"I'm leaving, Two," she said with hesitation.

"What? My dear, that's crazy!" the elder said and began picking up stray objects before helping Seven stand. "Here, just put those away and let me take you back to your rafters…"

"No, Two!" she whispered angrily, ensuring that none of the others would hear her and expose her plan. "I can't stay here while all hell breaks loose outside!"

Two studied her face in disbelief. "It's too dangerous, Seven. You can't survive out there alone, not for very long anyway."

Seven blinked, but did not change her mind. "I know it's dangerous, but I'm fast and smart, at least enough to fight the beast. If I…" she paused then, looking out to the exit to the emptiness like a brave soldier, "–_if I die_ trying to stop it, then so be it."

Two's mouth dropped slowly as he tried to think of some way to convince the young female of her misguided venture, but she truly was a determined soldier, and could not be swayed.

"Are you absolutely sure?" he asked.

Seven looked back into the old stitchpunk's optics. He was wise and caring, and she could see that he had doubts about her survival. She nodded despite her elder's eyes burning deep into her soul.

Two sighed, but kept his face stern. "Well then, you'll need more than those nails and scissors. Here, I might have some things…"

Two hunted around the workshop until he found a pencil, a piece of wire, and a tiny metal blade. Thinking quickly, he wrapped the blade around the pencil with the piece of wire. He gave the newly forged spear a test swing before handing it to Seven, who took it with a small gasp.

"It's not as effective as a metal spear would be. The handle will break one day, but the blade will be sharp as long as you take good care of it. Also–" He stopped and found something hiding underneath the workbench. It was an arm shield made from a button and tube of plastic. "I made this for Five, but I think you're better off with it."

Seven placed the shield on her arm. It slid on loosely, but it would have to do. She carefully placed the spear into the satchel and stood proudly. She was a fool to do this, but she certainly looked more intimidating. "Thank you so much, Two."

Two smiled, trying to hide his fears for the young fighter who was risking it all. "Good luck, my child," he said.

Two hugged the young stitchpunk and she accepted the last embrace with the elder. Knowing the risks of it all, she ducked her head into Two's worn shoulder burlap and shut her optics, as if she were a child and he could protect her from the danger outside. At last, she and Two parted.

"I'll come back. I promise," she said, taking one step, then another, toward the door, not losing eye contact with Two all the way.

"I know you will," Two said affirmatively yet with dread dripping in his voice box, watching her slowly leave his workshop.

The two stitchpunks kept optic contact for as long as possible, knowing that this could very well be a last goodbye. Finally, Seven turned around and choked, "Goodbye, Two," before she ran off, not looking back.

"Goodbye, Seven," Two answered, holding a hand above his head in a salute to the fighter. She had spirit certainly, but he was not sure if it was enough. And as Seven left the workshop and her pale form disappeared over the distant piles of wreckage in the emptiness, the builder sighed and returned to his bed. He knew that sleep would not find him again tonight or for many nights afterward.

"_And where the journey may lead me,_

_Let your prayers be my guide,_

_I cannot stay here, my family,_

_But I'll remember my pride." _

-The Lion King.

* * *

_Author's Note__: This longest chapter in the piece is also one with fewer flaws that needed correction for the update. I feel that I did change the development of Seven to some degree, making her future and goal a little less selfish. The dream sequence in the beginning was once in italics, but now it works as it should–as a trap for the reader to fall into believing the twins are dead. Five's feelings for Seven are more implied in this version, but something I felt needed to be retained is the heartfelt bit between Seven and Two in the end. Once again, the song_ Shadowland _I've quoted is from the Broadway version of _The Lion King_ rather than the film, so it's possible that you haven't heard of it._


	5. What Was Left Behind

_**Before the Warrior**_

**Chapter Five: What Was Left Behind**

"_Running away will do it._

_Why sit around resigned?_

_Trouble is, son, the farther you run,_

_The more you feel undefined_

_For what you have left undone,_

_And more, what you've left behind."_

–Into the Woods.

Five's spirits were high the next morning as he headed to the rafters. He had spoken to Seven, proving that he was her friend, and always would be. Though she had been distant, at least he had made some amends. Maybe now he could have his old friend back, and not the angry, delusional girl that had shown herself lately.

But when the one-eyed doll went to the rafters again, Seven was not there. He searched the entire cathedral, even enlisting the help of every member of the coven, but she was gone. Upon hearing this news, One called an emergency meeting of the clan.

The now entirely male group gathered around One in a circle at his "throne" and listened solemnly.

"The loss of Seven is a tragedy indeed," said the old leader in a tone almost like a priest might use at a funeral. "With Three, Four, and her gone, our group has now dwindled to only five."

Five raised a careful hand. "W-we could go after her. She can't have gone far."

One's eyes locked on the younger Five's. "It would be best if we all stayed hidden, as we have always done," he finally said and turned around, looking to the great stained glass window above them.

Eight then dragged a piece of paper out of the corner of the room and placed it on the wall. It was a piece of a calendar with the first ten days or so of the month displayed. One struck a match and lit three candles in the room to honor Three, Four, and Seven. Then the others watched in horror as the old leader extinguished the flame from the match he had used and crossed out the third, fourth, and seventh days on the calendar, leaving crosses made from ash over the dates.

"Sweets to the sweet," One quoted from a great poet of the time before, but no one could place the name of, "-farewell."

Eight bowed his head in respect, and One kept his head forward as well, though he never turned to look to the others. Five, now believing that his companion; nay, the object of his affections and true friend for so long, was gone forever, began to bow his head too. Two put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed more firmly than usual.

* * *

The sky was not very cloudy outside the cathedral, but the toxic air still made a thin veil that hung over the ruins. There was far less of the air pollution than Seven remembered from the time of the war, but it would take months or possibly years for the earth to fully heal from that sort of destruction.

Seven found it ironic that the world outside seemed so eerie. Before, she had wanted so badly to escape the cathedral, but now that she had, she was afraid. She was not a coward, she would never let herself be called a coward, but her scar reminded her to be cautious or suffer the consequences.

Despite all fear, she kept going. She cared about the twins' survival more than her own. She was, after all, a lone stitchpunk carrying a few metal shards and a pointy stick for weapons, willingly facing a monster more than ten times her size.

She headed off into one of the war trenches next, not able to see any more than a foot ahead due to the dust in the air. Her metal foot touched something soft and damp, and when she saw what she had stepped on, she leaped back a few inches. The remains of a human hand lay in front of her, decaying in the rotten air and filth. It was connected to a shredded arm, and nearly hollowed-out torso.

The sight made Seven feel sick. She could not vomit as a human would have then, but she felt the need to leave this sight immediately. Such horrors weren't uncommon in her world, she knew, but it was still scary, and it reminded her of her own mortality.

"Oh hell, oh hell…" she muttered a few times, trying to concentrate on the path ahead.

She thought of the stories that Two would tell her of the world before the war, and the hope that one day things would be something like they were before. It made her feel better, just a little closer to home.

Then she heard the sound of weak metal groaning and clanking. It was no ordinary sound of objects banging around in the breeze. It was clearly from something alive, and something nearby.

She quietly hid behind an old car that was resting atop a pile of rubble. She would soon discover that she had made a wise choice in a hiding place, for all too soon, the beast was in plain sight.

The creature dragged its left hind foot along the ground. The right one was repaired with a fork for a paw after the avalanche of rubble that had crushed it when she had seen it last, and Seven guessed that the monster was at least intelligent enough to fix itself. As it drew closer, she recognized that the beast's injury gave her an advantage.

_So, where do I strike it then?_ she thought to herself. _I could try throwing the spear, but I'd probably miss…_

Thinking more about observation than precaution, she climbed up the fender of the car and watched the nightmare move about. Containing a scream or the impulse to run was almost impossible as she watched the beast scavenge around with its mighty claws, the very ones that gashed open her back. What truly frightened her though was the blood red eye of the monster, darting about the landscape.

The light quickly fell on her face, and she held up a hand to shield her optics. Half blinded, all she could do was hear the creature growl in a deadly tone.

_Damn!_ she thought and leaped down quickly. She scrambled for cover and quickly leaped into the wheel well. As the growls of the beast drew nearer, she shuddered in fear, crouching down into a ball to avoid being seen.

And then, just when the growls of the monster could not get any louder, they vanished altogether. Seven lifted her head slowly, thinking she was safe, but she would soon be grateful that she hadn't moved much.

The car began to budge underneath her before rolling off the rubble pile. She held on for dear life as the car hit the ground and the beast searched the vehicle. Movement would be suicide, she knew, and so she stayed crouched close to the wheel, trying so hard not to make a sound or move at all.

At last, the beast gave a great roar of anger before reaching its claws into the side of the car out of frustration. Soon it left to continue the task it had started before she arrived on the scene. Several minutes after the beast departed, Seven finally uncurled from her spot and found herself lying underneath the old wheel, spinning precariously back and forth above her head. Suddenly, a rusted bolt popped and the wheel began to fall toward her. In a moment of absolute survival, Seven rolled out of the way in the nick of time. Had she stayed frozen a minute longer, she would have been crushed.

As she looked at the skyline, she could just barely make out the outline of the cathedral's tower. The safety of the rafters seemed a paradise. She crossed her arms over her chest and shook some more out of exhaustion, astonishment at being alive, and rage toward her foe.

_Day one._

* * *

_Author's Note: The opening of this chapter, due to the shift in point of view, is shorter than in the original draft. One was originally more of a menacing character who took autocratic control of the clan at this point. Now he is more balanced. The fight scene is nearly the same, with a couple of cuts to keep material more consistent. Also,_ Into the Woods _is a great musical. Moving on!_


	6. Hunting

_**Before the Warrior**_

**Chapter Six: Hunting**

"_Race a thousand miles,_

_Still you may not find the thing you chase."_

-Frankenstein: A New Musical

Many days went by between sightings of the beast. Seven soon had spent nearly a month searching for the creature, only never to truly near it. The creature could not track Seven down as long as she followed it from a distance. Unfortunately, the path the creature took was rocky and the pale doll got herself into a few snares on the rough trail. Over time, she caught her back stitching on a piece of barbed wire, damaging her injury further. She was slowed down by the constant need to turn her pain sensors off, and soon the tear grew larger as she stretched the fabric. Her pursuit of both the creature and the twins was becoming bleak.

The weapons that Two gave her had not been used at all, though Seven kept the spear sharp just in case. Occasionally she would find a fresher human corpse slashed open by metal claws, and that only reminded her of her own mortality. It also made her wonder if the beast was actually keeping any surviving humans from returning to the emptiness–if there were any survivors.

One night, the pale doll climbed up to a safe rooftop, then sat and let a groan of pain escape. After bracing herself, she looked out toward the horizon. She could just make out the faded image of One's sanctuary on the other side of the destroyed city, past the village square, the no man's land, and the huge patch of dead grass that she had somehow dragged herself through.

The warm, safe sanctuary seemed heavenly as she tried to figure out how to get some sleep in this inconvenient location. Her slumber had to be fleeting, or else the beast might find her unawares. Between her injury, the thought of returning home, and the beast coming to find her, sleep was not going to come easy.

Seven let another groan of pain escape as she slowly lied down onto her belly, trying to keep any tension away from her back. The pain was so intense that she had to take a breath out of concentration as she shut off her pain sensors once more.

"Hell…" she muttered and shut her optics tight.

She tried to think of something–anything–that could lull her to sleep.

Unfortunately, the first things that came into her mind were the sounds of explosions.

* * *

_She ran on through the dying city as the Machine-Human war ensued around her. The air was thick with smoke and the stench of the deadly war gas. The high-pitched sounds of human screams and the whistles of explosives sailing in the air before impact pushed the pale doll onward in one of the first days of her life._

_One had sent her to find a safe passage to the church that he had seen from their townhouse hideaway. He said that he would meet her halfway in the warzone, underneath the cover of a soldier's helm._

_Of course she was afraid. There was so much to be afraid of when you are not only in the middle of a war that is not your own, but the battle is between giants. But her fear was easily suppressed, as Seven was determined to find the path to safety. A voice told her it was her job…_

_Then a small, rapid movement caught her eye and she stopped. No puff of smog or rat could move that quick and precisely, and that made her curious._

"_Hello?" she asked clearly, yet quietly. Only a creature her size would be able to understand what she had said, but she was still risking her cover._

_Just when she was about to move on, a brown stitchpunk poked his head out of a tin can directly in front of her._

"_A-are you a-a f-friend? the frightened male stuttered._

_Seven blinked and smiled in surprise. She hoped that they would find more of their kind. "Yes, I'm a friend. Come on out. I won't hurt you." _

_The brown doll stood up cautiously. He was made of burlap and had red buttons on the front of his body. He had the expression of a frightened, cornered animal. "Wh-who are you?" he asked. _

"_I'm Seven," she answered. "You?"_

_And then, much to Seven's surprise, two other stitchpunks peeked out from behind the burlap male. They were nearly identical–striped with blue hoods over their heads._

"_I'm Five," said the burlap doll, "and these two are Three and Four."_

_Seven smiled wide at the trio of frightened dolls. They didn't know it, but with all three of them together, they completed the set of eight. "Come with me," she said to them._

"_But…it's safe here," Five said. The twins merely nodded in agreement._

"_It won't be very long. The bombs won't stop, they'll just get closer," Seven said. "If you come with me and the others, you'll stand a better chance."_

"_Oh!" Five exclaimed, "Did you find Six yet? He was working on him."_

_Seven didn't have time to think about what Five meant, for a grenade was flying right above their heads and preparing to drop on the trio's shelter. _

"_Run!" Seven screamed. She ran as fast as she could and leaped as the bomb hit the ground. The explosion sent her flying further, but she managed to land safely. When the debris cleared, she scanned the scene for Five, Four, and Three. _

_All three appeared, no worse for wear, soon after. She couldn't have felt more relieved._

"_Okay, we're coming with you," said an even more terrified Five._

_Seven nodded. "Keep up, please. We've got a long way to go."_

_Seven the scout became Seven the leader for the time being. She crawled through the cracks to protect her company from the explosions and the eyes of the machines. A few times they had to slow down or stop because of the explosions, but they continued on, toward the ever-growing shape of the church ahead of them._

_Suddenly, she stopped. The only way to get to safety was to run directly into the crossfire of a walker machine and a crowd of humans. Looking behind her at the three dolls she had sworn to protect, she knew that she'd have to go this part alone. _

"_Five," she said, "I need you and the twins to stay right here in this spot. I'll be back."_

"_Y-you're leaving us?" he asked._

_The pale doll looked at all three dolls' faces before putting a hand on Five's shoulder. _

"_-Only for a little while. You'll be safer this way. I promise I'll come back."_

_And then she crawled out of the safety of her cover and into the fray. She ran through the blitz, concentrating only on the clear patches of dirt she could see. Her fear had subsided. She only had to protect them, and somehow find a way to the church…_

* * *

The sound of a monstrous growl far too close for comfort woke Seven. She had overslept.

She jumped to her feet, causing a spasm of pain to erupt from her back. She looked below the windowsill for the beast. It couldn't have reached her yet; it wasn't a very good climber.

Then the ground in front of her turned a bright red, and she knew that she had given the monster enough time to clamber up to her.

She gasped as she turned and saw the nightmare staring her right in the face. She was petrified from fear and unable to think with the pain. Her only options were to fight or jump off the building and surely tear her back right open.

The beast seemed to snicker in its animalistic fashion, and in one quick swipe sent her flying into the wall. Seven's head swirled as her back tore further. It seemed as if death was closer now than ever, as she simply lay there, watching the monster come closer. She shut her eyes and tried to think of anything pleasant. For a moment, she saw herself running free in the emptiness, her family all with her…

Then the beast grabbed her in its mouth, and she unleashed a suppressed scream of pain as the monster took her away toward its lair.

* * *

_Author's Note: This is another chapter where I really didn't have to revise much at all, though the flashback is a little cleaner now. I also feel like the pacing is better._


	7. The Cage

_**Before the Warrior**_

**Chapter Seven: The Cage**

"_You poor, sweet, innocent thing._

_Dry your eyes and testify._

_You know you live to break me._

_Don't deny, sweet sacrifice."_

_-Evanescence. _

The beast's lair was exactly what Seven and the other stitchpunks had believed it to be: the three menacing shapes that had stood out on the horizon. She now understood that this place was an old war machine warehouse. The beast carried her past a store of walker machines and further into the darkness, its red eye casting horrific shadows in this palace of horror.

Seven struggled with all her might, but questioned the monster as her futile flailing continued.

_Why hasn't it killed me yet? _she thought to herself.

At last the beast reached its resting chamber, the largest and most illuminated of all. Sunlight flooded into this room, shining on a huge red curtain. Seven was not inclined to know what that curtain was hiding at the moment, though anything having to do with the beast couldn't be good.

The beast dug through the piles of debris that decorated the ground at its feet before emitting a pleased growl. Seven cringed as the teeth of the monster dug deeper into her wound.

What the creature had found was an old birdcage. It used its precise claws to flip the latch and open the cage door. It then dropped its prey inside the tiny prison.

Seven was too tired and in shock to fight back as the monster slammed the cage door closed behind her. She groaned as she slowly attempted to stand back up, only to fall down again.

Though her body demanded rest, the beast wouldn't allow her to have any. The great cat bit down on the handle of the cage and sent it flying across the factory floor, jarring the little stitchpunk inside too.

"Ohh…" the pale doll groaned. Her pain sensors were firing out of control now.

The beast seemed to snicker and soon enough it had the cage in its teeth once more. This time the beast tossed the birdcage in the air and deftly caught it in its teeth, causing Seven to cry out again.

And as she recovered from the second blow, Seven understood why the beast had kept her alive: It wanted to enjoy killing her.

The beast prepared to toss her again, but this time, Seven clung tight to the bars of the cage. The cage went flying again but her body stayed put, and she was not injured.

The beast didn't like its prey being so smart, and snapped at her tiny metal hands. The doll flinched just as the monster sent the cage falling off a ledge made of cinder blocks and she fell forward with it.

The torture continued for hours. The beast would occasionally find something else to do aside from slowly kill its prey. Seven would catch a break at those times, but soon after it would return and toss the cage around some more. The beast methodically broke the stitchpunk down. Instead of finishing her off when she was weak, it would wait for her to put up a fight before striking again.

Seven was exhausted from the continuous assault, but she still tried to keep her wits about her as she slowly but surely weakened. She learned how to jump in tune with the tossing of the cage and when to hold onto the bars for dear life. Unfortunately during the struggle she lost her makeshift spear–not that she knew how to use it anyway.

Death was the only full-proof way out of her torture, but she wouldn't take that offer no matter how much it seemed to be a better prospect.

And then another blow weakened her further. And another. And another…

The beast growled as it watched the soulbeing lying still in her prison. The beast may not have killed very much prey in the past (a few of the human resistance that it had encountered, but they had been far less fun to kill), but it knew that the soulbeing had not shown the key signs of death. She hadn't convulsed or uttered the last screams of pain as dying prey usually did.

As a lasting measure, the beast threw the cage across the room again, this time making sure that it hit the wall with the greatest force it could generate. If the doll had survived that blow, she was an unusually strong soulbeing indeed.

The beast's red eye scanned over the pale body lying in the middle of the cage for a sign of life. Nothing. Death had come at last to one of the little abominations! The beast roared in triumph.

Satisfied for the day, the monster curled its mechanical body around the cage. It was time to recharge after all that work.

The moon glowed brightly through the large crack in the ceiling, and all objects in the beast's lair glowed a pale green color. The cage, clutched in its terrifying claws, glimmered faintly as the latch on the door slowly turned and the door opened with the tiniest creaking noise. The metal hands that had pushed the door open shook as Seven, barely alive, pulled herself up and out of her cell.

She paused and let her legs dangle in the cage to keep quiet and reserve energy, then emerged completely and slid down the bars with a small "thump" as her weakened body hit the ground. The beast's red eye flickered for a moment, hearing the sound, and searching for movement as it recharged. Seven stayed perfectly still lying on the ground, and soon the beast went back to sleep. Slowly she got to her feet and began to make her way out of the horrible place. The debris everywhere provided a continuous wave of obstacles, but she slowly pushed through. There was a pipe on the far away wall where a faint amount of the moonlight snuck in, and she knew that she had to make it through if she was going to survive.

As she made her way through the hell factory, Seven thought she heard a scraping sound behind her. She didn't dare look back, for the beast could very well have reawakened and was about to kill her. It could have also been a product of sheer paranoia, imagined by her troubled mind.

The sound followed her though, even as she headed through the narrow pipe. She stopped in realization. The beast could never fit into the tiny pipe.

Putting her hand behind her back, she found what had been making the noise. A lone, striped feather somehow had gotten caught between her body and the rope that was tied around her waist, and trailed along on the ground behind her. She picked it up and stared at the object the moonlight.

_I am the bird that flew away_, she thought, stroking the edge of the feather briefly.

She clutched the feather tightly to her chest as she walked through the pipe and into the night. Her freedom didn't sink in yet, as she knew that she had to travel further into the emptiness to hide from the creature that would wake at dawn. The need to survive kept her from giving into the pain from her back, though she felt weaker with each new step she made.

Her feet touched the cobblestones as she made her way through an old courtyard. Suddenly, everything felt light and weightless. It was as if she was caught in a total eclipse of the moon and its peaceful darkness was overtaking her.

She almost smiled before she blacked out, thinking, _I am the bird that flew away…_

* * *

_Author's Note_:_ I feel that this chapter is very powerful. It's all about Seven's endurance and courage. Once again, this revised edition doesn't have very much revision for this chapter, though I tried to be careful about focusing on Seven rather than the beast. Of course the point of view still shifts for dramatic effect, but it's Seven's survival that is important. Also, the Evanescence quote is entirely new. The original quote was, believe it or not, a Ghandi quote._


	8. Memory

_**Before the Warrior**_

**Chapter Eight: Memory**

"_When the dawn comes,_

_Tonight will be a memory too,_

_and a new day will begin."_

_-Cats_

_The darkness gave way to blinding light, the first light Seven had ever seen. Her optics fluttered open, clicking a few times. Sight was not easy to get used to. _

_There were a few things strewn about the room. Whoever lived here clearly didn't have much time to keep this place clean. There were stacks of bound paper (which she would later learn were called books) beside her, a huge device with long wires connected to it above her head, and below her peculiar wooden perch was a vast floor that led to a gigantic doorway._

_While this place was strange, there was something familiar about it. Where had she seen this place before? Had she once lived here in some other lifetime? Her head spun with thoughts._

_At last, she stood up on her wobbly new legs and looked herself over. She stretched out her left arm and then her right. She twiddled her metal fingers and stamped the "toe" of her foot on the ground. Blinking again, she heard the flicking sound of her optics. Her fingers traced the outline of those as well. It felt so strange and wonderful to be here. Then the sound of an explosion rang out and she scurried for cover behind the books, frightened._

_Something moved in the dark room, and the doll peeked out to see what it was. She now noticed a chair in the far corner of the room, and the lumpy, white form that had been there was now up and about. This was not only a living thing, but a man._

"_Blasted bombs…" the man in white muttered before turning around with a gasp when he saw the vacant device above her head._

_The doll hid behind the books, still unsure of this giant person._

"_He's alive!" said the man, "but where is he?" He began inspecting the ground below him. "Come out, little fellow. I won't hurt you, I just need to speak to you."_

_The doll watched the man looking around the lab, sensing that somehow he could be trusted, before coming out into the open. She opened her mouth and carefully said, "Excuse me."_

_The man in white bumped his head on the desk he'd been looking under and looked over at her, smiling. "Well, Number Seven has awoken."_

"_S-Seven?" the doll asked curiously._

_The man raised an eyebrow. "-And what a surprise, you're a female." He paused. "That's your name–who you are."_

"_Seven is who I am?" she asked._

"_Precisely."_

"_And who are you?"_

_The man smiled and said, "You can just call me a scientist." _

_Another loud 'boom' rang out, and the laboratory trembled beneath the scientist and the doll._

"_Wh-what's out there?" Seven asked._

"_Monsters, I'm afraid," the scientist answered. "But there are also friends out there to help you."_

"_You mean…more like me?" the doll asked._

"_Yes. And they need you right now."_

_Seven, though just born, did not question his orders, and focused on the task at hand. "Where do I find them?"_

"_They were scattered. I sent number Six out ahead of you, though where he went I do not know," the scientist answered as a red light beamed through the crack of the window shutters._

_Both Seven and the scientist stood still, and soon the red light vanished. If Seven had a heart, it would have been racing._

"_Th-that was a monster, wasn't it?" she asked the scientist._

"_Yes. Avoid the blood red eyes, number Seven," the scientist muttered with a nod. _

_Seven paused only for a moment, then raced off toward the door to find the others of her kind. Already at the first step, she came to a stop and turned to look at the strange man in white._

"_Will you be all right?" she asked._

_The man turned to look at her again. One of his eyes contained a small drop of water. She would later learn that this reaction was called crying, but as soon as his sadness had emerged, the Scientist hid it again with a smile. "As long as you and the others are together, I will be fine. Now go on. You have a job to do."_

_And with that, the pale doll set off on her own, never to return to the man in white or to know the vast secrets he kept from the time before…_

* * *

Seven stirred in something of a daze. It had all been a dream, and yet it hadn't been a dream at all. How strange that such an early memory had come back to her–almost as if there was a reason for it to come back. The dream had reminded her of something important the scientist had once said,"You have a job to do."

But it hadn't been the dream that awoken Seven; a faint clicking sound had. A shadow was standing over her—wrong–two shadows were standing over her. A light flickered in her eyes and she flinched while the two shadows scurried away, quick as lightning.

She sat up slowly and looked around. She couldn't remember coming to this strange room after escaping the beast. It was the remains of a study filled to the brim with books. Had the shadows brought her to this place?

A paper rustled in the darkness and she turned to face her rescuers. She heard a tiny footstep behind her, but just as soon as that one had made a noise, another identical sound came from the other side of the chamber. Soon her head was continually whipping back in forth so that she could identify at least one of her mysterious saviors.

"Wh-who's there? Did you help me?" she asked cautiously.

Finally the sounds stopped, but a shadow appeared in the corner of the room that hadn't been there before. Seven focused on the shadow–wrong again, there were two shadows. She couldn't see the shadows too well, but she knew that these saviors were her size.

"Come out, I won't hurt you," Seven said.

More clicking sounds came from the corner where the shadows rested. The more Seven heard them, the more the clicks started to sound like the laughter of children. She had heard these joyous clicking sounds before, but where?

And when Seven remembered the sounds, her central mechanism felt warm with joy.

"Twins?" she croaked.

The pale doll hadn't made one step toward the shadows before the twin dolls dashed out to meet her and hugged her tightly. Three almost knocked her over as he leaped in mid-embrace while Four buried her hooded head into Seven's chest. Though still too surprised to hug them back, Seven allowed the hug to continue for a while.

Soon enough the twin dolls were flicking their lights madly, asking her questions and proclaiming their excitement with their unique code:

_Where have you been?_

_What happened to you?_

_How did you get here?_

_I missed you!_

–_I missed you too!_

–_I miss you more!_

"Stop! Stop!" Seven chuckled among the wave of clicking and flashing lights. The twins paused and let her speak. "I can't understand everything when you two talk so fast. I–hey!"

Seven felt the patch on her back. She was shocked to realize that it was re-sewn. "Did you fix my back too?"

The twins nodded and retrieved a needle and thread to prove it.

"How long was I out?" she asked.

_Two days, _Four clicked.

_But we took good care of you, _Three supplemented.

Seven smiled and hugged the twins tightly. "Oh, thank you, twins. You don't know how much I missed you."

The twins hugged her back and clicked in unison. _We missed you too._

Seven finally broke free from the hug and then looked at her surroundings. "My, you found a nice place for yourselves. Were all these books here before you showed up?"

The twins explained, as well as they could, that their chamber had once been a library. The collection had been scattered, and the twins had made it their mission to sort everything and catalog the information they naturally desired as recorders. Compiling, organizing, and reading through the collection kept them occupied. Though the great piles of books towering over their heads seemed an endless collection of knowledge, Seven knew that the twins had probably compiled quite an archive already.

Seven looked over at a strange mass of metal climbing toward the top shelves. "What's that?"

_It's our elevator_, Three answered.

_Once it's finished, it'll be a way to get to all the answers, _Four clicked.

"You must have worked hours on this," Seven said.

The twins chuckled silently.

_What are you doing out here anyway? _Three clicked.

"Well I came here to… Oh! You have to come back to the others," Seven said, remembering that she had initially sent out to find them.

Three and Four didn't miss a second before they shook their heads.

"What? What do you mean 'No?_'_ You'll be safe there," Seven argued.

The twin dolls gestured to the library. Their collection was a great treasure they just couldn't leave behind, and besides that, it was their shelter.

"There's safety in numbers," Seven argued. "Besides, we really missed you at home."

The twin dolls both got a frustrated look on their face, then Four clicked a message to Seven. _Will you be coming home too?_

Seven shook her head. "I have a mission."

_What mission? _The twins asked, curious.

"I'm going to destroy the beast," Seven answered. "–Once it's gone, none of us will have to hide anymore."

The twins looked to each other, clicked, then turned back to Seven, their arms crossed.

_Well then, we're staying here,_ Four clicked.

_We don't want to be locked away anymore either, _Three added.

Seven scowled. "Don't be stubborn. It's for your own good, and you won't be there for long, I promise."

The twins turned their backs to Seven.

Then Seven almost growled. "Fine! Take the risk!" She paced around and thought of something. "Thanks for your help, but I have to go get my spear back from that monster."

The twins finally turned back to look at her. _You mean you're going back to the beast's den? _Four clicked.

–_Alone? _Three added.

"Yes," Seven answered, already leaving the library, "Maybe I'll kill it and we can all go home."

The pale doll huffed and trudged out, but hesitated as she stood near the exit. Still, she kept walking. Her plans to save the twins had changed so suddenly, and yet her anger toward the beast caused her not to care anymore. As the scientist had said, she had a job to do.

* * *

_Author's Note: I was more careful about my re-reading of this chapter than most since it is my favorite of all excepting, perhaps, the ending. I remember originally writing the flashback sequence while on vacation, during a time where I was fascinated with the musical _Cats_, thus the title. I had to change some of the Scientist's dialog, since his character is so symbolically_ _ significant._ _He has to be strong and heartbroken all the while being subtle. I also had to be careful in retaining the tone of joy when Seven and the twins reunite, only to be juxtaposed by Seven's new obsession: killing the beast. Apart from my caution and a few edits for emphasis, I maintain that this chapter is a highlight all the way through._


	9. The Deal

_**Before the Warrior**_

**Chapter Nine: The Deal**

_"Together we'll be the greatest team there's ever been…_

_Dreams the way we planned them!_

_If we work in tandem,_

_There's no fight we cannot win…"_

Seven's anger prevented her from assessing the danger she was stepping into as she neared the beast's lair. She couldn't understand the twins' decision to put their lives in danger. After all she had been through trying to find them, they repaid her with stubbornness. Yet, she could relate to that stubbornness too. She was stubborn. Still, _they _weren't going to fight this beast, _were _they?

The twins were not her only reason to be out here anymore. There was a new drive–a drive to be free, to destroy the beast, to fight to the end. And she needed her spear back to have a chance at satisfying that drive.

The heat of her anger cooled as she neared the factory. Her instinct to survive was setting in now, and fear nearly drove her back to the library. Instead of fleeing though, she used that energy in preparation of meeting the beast.

It wasn't easy to find the exhaust pipe she had walked through during her escape of the beast's lair, but finally she crossed it. She tried to be as quiet as possible treading down the tunnel into the beast's chamber, and swallowed her fear as she drew closer to the opening.

There was not a sound from the chamber. After waiting a few moments in the absolute silence, Seven assumed the coast was clear. She darted around inside the old factory, not really caring then if she made noise, looking for her spear. Her face contorted in frustration. The blasted creature had shuffled objects around while she was away.

Her optics locked onto a large object connected to the ceiling. This piece of machinery was immense, and cloaked in a large, blood-red cloth. What confused her most of all was why she wanted so badly to know what was under the cloth.

She didn't have time to find the answer, as a growl filled the chamber. A rusty oilcan provided the shelter she needed as the lion returned to its den.

The creature seemed more agitated than it had been before, and Seven could guess the reason why. She wanted to chuckle at the foolish monster and how she had tricked it into believing she was dead.

The frustrated beast picked up a crowbar in its teeth and flung it across the room. It made a loud noise as it hit the concrete wall of the factory. After the sharp twang, Seven finally saw it. Her spear was underneath the monster's right forepaw.

She waited for the beast to walk away, but she knew it was going to be difficult to avoid its keen, laser eye. At last, when the creature had gone away to destroy something on the other side of the room, she left her hiding place. She moved far more carefully this time as she ran to pick up the spear. She quickly examined the weapon and test-swung it. The pencil handle was damaged to the point that she knew it needed repairs, but she could still swing it about as well as she could before. She began to make her escape, careful to avoid too much movement or noise.

She was no more than four feet away from the pipe when her foot slipped from her perch. Her shield, the loose thing it always was, flew off while she tried to keep balance. The sound of the button hitting a garbage pail was a signal for the beast to attack.

Seven scrambled to retrieve her armor, but the creature locked onto her before charging, emitting a mighty roar. The rag doll only had to time to slip her shield back on and brace herself, holding the spear she had reclaimed in front of her.

The beast halted, curious what its prey was up to.

"Don't move," Seven ordered, shaking a bit. "I-I'll fight you. And this time, I'll win!"

Though the beast couldn't understand her words, it knew that its prey was virtually helpless. It closed in on her, knowing it would only have to avoid the twig she was holding up against it. Just as it was about to strike, something hit the beast's skull. Almost immediately after, another projectile stuck the beast with near perfect accuracy.

Seven looked around for anything that could have caused this, but saw nothing. She took the opportunity and dashed while the beast was diverted. The creature hissed when it realized that it had been tricked, and leaped over Seven to block the entrance to the pipe.

Then the beast was distracted by something moving to its left. It growled, unable to concentrate. Meanwhile Seven jabbed her spear between the "bone" structures on its foreleg. Though the great cat felt no pain, it roared at the injury. Seven, satisfied, removed the spear and jabbed at the other leg, causing the creature to get angry. That was when she realized that the beast was not only frustrated with her efforts to destroy it, but by a force attacking its head as well. She looked up to find Four, of all beings, on the beast's back, kicking its skull with her feet. Meanwhile, Three was tossing pebbles at the monster from across the chamber, distracting it more.

_Up here!_ Four clicked rapidly.

Seven didn't even think twice about the situation and found a way to climb up the creature's back to where Four was still attacking. She got the idea and whacked its head with her spear a few times.

The monster tried to run around to rid itself of the parasites that surrounded it, but it did no good. Its back leg got caught in a piece of chicken wire and held fast. Thankfully for the dolls, the beast stopped just near the escape pipe.

"Quick, get in there!" Seven ordered Four. "I'll get Three."

Three was still throwing rocks at the beast, though he was running out of ammunition. His foot slipped off his perch, and he momentarily dangled over the beast's head. The creature snapped at the little doll a few times, nearly catching him in its teeth. Luckily, Seven came along and hoisted him up.

They ran through the room, Three ahead of Seven, toward their escape. The beast finally freed itself as Four helped her brother get into the pipeline. Seven watched, nearly frozen, as the beast braced itself for another attack. The creature lunged, hoping to catch at least the pale doll in its jaws…

When Seven found reality again, she was inside the pipe with Three and Four. The beast was growling and attacking the pipe, but she was far back enough to where it couldn't reach her. She had no idea how she had avoided the attack, but she took off running with the twins all the way to the library.

The trio returned to their base by nightfall. As soon as they reached their safe haven of books, the twins wasted no time asking the question they had been dying to ask Seven.

_How did you do it?_

"Do what?" Seven asked.

_The leap! _Four clicked.

_With the flip! _Three added.

_And the twist._

–_And the tunnel._

–_And the perfect landing!_

"Slow down!" Seven said. "Do you mean I jumped in the middle of the fight?"

_Right into the pipe, _Three said.

"I did?" Seven said with a gasp. "So, _that's_ how I escaped."

_It was like watching a bird take flight, _Four clicked with romanticism dripping from her signals.

_Failed poet, _Three clicked back too quietly for Seven to see.

Seven was too busy trying to remember the moment where she had apparently leaped from the ground like a bird. The creature had charged right for she and the others, but beyond that she could remember nothing. How was it possible to make a leap like that without remembering it?

Perhaps, she thought, her instinct to survive had overpowered everything else at that moment. It gave her focus. But inner focus didn't explain the miraculous jump itself. She rubbed her back scar, not in pain but in thought.

"Two _did_ say I might become more flexible with the injury," she thought aloud.

_Well, it certainly gave you an advantage, _Four clicked.

Seven smiled before hugging both the twins. "But I wouldn't have made it without you two. Why didn't you tell me about the beast's weaknesses before? It can't see behind its head and it can't focus on more than one target at once…" She started to pace around, thinking of how to destroy her foe. "Yes, that'll make everything so much easier!"

_That's not all we know about it,_ said Three.

"Really?" Seven asked with enthusiasm, "What else do you know?"

_Too much to tell you in one night, _Four supplied. _How do you think we've stayed hidden all this time?_

"Hmm…" Seven thought and stretched her arms. "Well, you can tell me everything in the morning, I guess."

The twins looked to each other, then back to her suspiciously.

_Can we trust you not to run off? _Three said, huffing his chest and crossing his arms as if he were Seven's protective parent.

"Why would I run away?" Seven asked while putting away her spear and shield. "I need to guard our home overnight, don't I?"

The twins smiled. Now Seven understood their reason for staying. Even better, they had something of a bargain with her. As long as they shared their knowledge of the beast with her, she wouldn't leave. It would be nice to be protected by the fierce doll, and besides, both dolls had been hopelessly lonely by themselves.

Before Seven fell asleep, she searched around the library until she found a striped feather on the ground. The pale doll clutched the feather tight to her chest before resting beside a and Four had no idea why the feather mattered so much to Seven, but they decided it was none of their business and fell asleep too.

_"Just you and I defying gravity._

_With you and I defying gravity,_

_They'll never bring us down."_

_-Wicked, The Broadway Musical._

* * *

_Author's Note: Yet again, this is another chapter that I felt needed little revision. The point of view is now more focused on Seven and her ultimate goal. Now I feel that the transformation of Seven from concerned about the twins to a determined fighter is more complete. Lastly, _Defying Gravity_ is quite possibly my favorite song ever. Listen to it. It's simply fantastic!  
_


	10. The Angel

_**Before the Warrior**_

**Chapter Ten: The Angel**

"_Living close to the ground is seventh-heaven_

'_Cause there are angels all around."_

_-Owl City._

Seven spent a lot of time in the library after the spear incident, learning all about the beast. Three and Four had saved footage they had captured from a safe distance. Seven would spend hours watching clip reels, studying the movements and weaknesses of her foe.

_The blind spots are behind its head and on its backside, _her brain would rack, _Moves something like an ape crossed with a cat…The red eye sees; the bright eye illuminates prey…but where's the weak spot?_

Even with all of the facts she knew about the creature, she needed more than knowledge to win. She needed combat practice–lots of combat practice. But surprisingly, the twins' knowledge proved useful for combat as well. They possessed a book about a far away culture to the east. One of the sections was about martial arts. Seven learned little things here and there from it, like how to balance her weight properly, and how to better defend herself. She picked up the more agile, difficult tricks surprisingly fast. She had always been rather quick and unafraid to learn, but never had she felt so confident. Suddenly it seemed her rubber back plate was a valuable tool that made her more flexible than ever, and her slim form helped her move faster through her environment.

Usually Seven would practice combat on one of the shelves while Three and Four worked on their elevator. She would use the tall, ledge-filled terrain to practice climbing and moving about. The twins soon had to insist that she didn't attack their books, as she damaged the covers.

Seven's spear wore down as time went on. Eventually the handle splintered and she knew it was time to replace it. She also noticed that even with all of her training, she couldn't shield her head properly. She began to wonder if she could somehow make herself a helmet.

Days, weeks, months went by in this way. There was little to do apart from training and studying other than patrol. Occasionally the creature would walk through the courtyard, but it never discovered the trio inside their globe of knowledge.

She often wondered about her family hiding out in the sanctuary. One and Eight no doubt kept the other three males in line, reminding them of the dangers of the outside world. Six was probably drawing pictures of whatever he imagined. Five–how she missed Five. She had left him, her friend near to her as a brother, without really saying goodbye, knowing that he cared about her so much. And then of course, there was Two, the only one who knew why she set out in the first place.

She wondered if any of them still believed that she was alive.

All of her thoughts about the others made her heart grow lonely. She wanted to talk with Five, or get advice from Two, or show Eight her new fighting skills. She wanted to share her days with someone other than the two scholars who, though sweet and friendly, were preoccupied with cataloging, but she knew it would take some time before her wish came true.

But that _didn't_ mean she couldn't check in on the others while they still believed she was lost. She supposed that they would never know that she had visited the cathedral. She just needed to be particularly light on her feet, and she already knew the battlefield. She waited until one night when the twins were sound asleep and safe from the beast's detection before leaving to visit her old prison.

The cathedral wasn't very far away from the library. Seven kept her guard up as she walked through the courtyard and into the brief patch of ruins, but she was getting better at sensing the beast when it was around. The whole area seemed calm that night, so she relaxed a bit. After a short time, she reached the church.

She crawled through a large crack left in the brick walls of the cathedral. It was dark all around, but she knew the church well and climbed up various objects to reach the rafters she had once been in charge of. For the longest time, she heard no sound in the church, and wondered if it had been deserted.

Finally One's familiar voice sounded from his throne room and caught her attention. Even with her newfound stealth, the old leader would surely spot her if she snuck inside, so she simply listened to his words from outside the door.

"Six said someone will save us," Eight said from inside, almost laughing.

"Let the lunatic ramble. Only staying in here will save us," croaked One.

Seven shook her head and climbed across the beam she had used for access. One was still trying to keep the coven under his control, and doubtlessly had scarred Five, Two, and Six more than Eight. As she leaped down from one beam to the next, she noticed an unusual shape lying on the beam in front of her. Upon closer inspection, she recognized it as Five, sleeping with a hammer made from a bolt in one hand and a metal shard nail in another. The poor builder had fallen asleep on the job.

The stitchpunks' elevator creaked as a figure began to descend from the watchtower. Seven could guess right away who would be coming down here at this late hour of the night with a small candle to light the way, and darted into the shadows away from Two.

The old stitchpunk knelt to Five's level. "Come on, lad," he said.

Five grunted, half asleep, but stood up wearily. Meanwhile Seven studied the builders. Five looked nearly the same as how she had left them, but Two looked dreadful. Where once both One and Two once looked about the same age, Two now appeared far older. His posture was even more slouched and his skin was dirty from neglect. The pale doll's eyes narrowed as she realized what that meant. One had been working Two to exhaustion! She was so angry that she didn't notice her foot stamping until the deed was done, and the old builder's head whipped around to find the source of the noise.

"What was that?" Five murmured.

"I don't know," Two said, heading toward the shape he could just barely make out in the shadows.

But Seven had already leaped down from the rafters. She was panicking trying to escape, and made more noise as she tried to. She could hear the sounds of the coven scrambling above to make sure that nothing had invaded their fortress. Eight would be on her trail in no time.

Just when she was nearly outside again, she hit something. Something living and soft with stripes all over it. She realized too late that she had literally run right into Six.

"P-please don't tell them," Seven stammered, staring into the blank, unmatched eyes of the striped stitchpunk. "Please?"

Six didn't answer her, but his expression changed to a big smile. "Don't worry, you're going to make it."

Seven paused, almost wanting to ask the odd little doll more about what he meant, but she knew she had to go, and gave Six a grave look before running out of the cathedral and into the night.

As she was running back to the library, she tripped over something. Picking herself up off the ground, she found that thing was a seabird's skull. The near-white bone was almost glowing in the moonlight. Though she couldn't remember the name of the piece nor the author as was often the case with books, she was reminded of a story where an albatross was a friendly guide to a ship. One youth shot the albatross with an arrow, and faced a wrath like nothing else on Earth. How could someone, after all, kill something as free and pure as an albatross? She decided to take the little treasure back with her. It would make a fine addition to her favorite feather, and perhaps be a guide like the albatross.

A new trinket aside, Seven was still sad as she lay down to rest that night. She couldn't go back to the cathedral again until her mission was complete, but she would try to complete it as soon as possible.

"I didn't find nothin'," Eight growled at that night's emergency meeting before holding Six up in the air like a frightened animal being held by the scruff. "–Nothin' 'cept him."

One glared at Six. "Try not to make so much noise, you fool. We're in hiding, in case you've forgotten."

"One, I still don't think it was Six we heard," Two said. "The sound came from up in the rafters. Six was down below."

"I suppose you're saying my sanctuary has a ghost," One said.

"Not a ghost," Six interjected, "–An angel watching over us."

One and Eight burst into laughter. "Don't be ridiculous, boy," said One.

Two and Five led Six away from the two, still laughing, stitchpunks.

Two put a hand on Six's back. "I like your idea," he said. "Heaven knows we need a guardian angel."

Six's optics widened in fear. He knew more than anyone that they needed an angel watching over them. But in the end, nothing would be changed by her efforts.

* * *

_Author's Note__: Now _here_ is a chapter that has changed since the original draft! Yet again I trimmed down material so that the focus would be on Seven. Six's psychic powers are now a more subtle element whereas Two's aging has become more important._

_In the early draft, I wanted the helmet to bare greater significance, but I rather failed to make it anything more than an explanation. Now Seven's discovery alludes to  
_The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner, _an excellent poem that every high school graduate should read. Also, the Owl City quote is all new and more fitting, I think. _


	11. For Freedom

_**Before the Warrior**_

**Chapter Eleven: For Freedom**

"_I have no time for fear or people in my ear._

_Head down and running so fast. Try not to dwell on the past._

_I'm fighting through this pain and things I cannot change._

_Running right into the flame rather than running away."_

_-Maroon 5._

The beast scanned the landscape on its morning patrol. No sounds met its hearing sensors, but it wouldn't allow itself to be caught unawares. The creature scratched its claws on a brick wall, leaving marks in it as it thought about its enemy. Sure, there were several other soul sacks that still needed to die out there, but the pale doll's death in particular would be sweet after the many times she had escaped its grasp.

Suddenly a sound alerted the beast. It growled and set both its beam and scanning eyes to work to find the source.

A small shadow darted through nearby wreckage. The beast immediately lunged at it, but did not catch anything in its pinning paws. The great cat was just standing back up when it felt a jab at the back of its skull. The beast let out an angry roar. The pest was back.

The feathers on Seven's new helmet waved as she struggled to keep a hold of the raging monster. Her spear had barely made a scratch in the creature's head, but it certainly had enraged it. She ran along the beast's spine, looking something like a roadrunner with her bird-motif gear, and jabbed at every crease in the monster's beast, meanwhile, ran amok at the assault, rearing and nipping to get the either very brave or very suicidal prey off its back.

Despite her best efforts, Seven knew that she was losing her footing and leaped off the creature's back just as it was ready to buck her off. She held on to her spear, letting her body follow the movement of her weapon as it glided through the air before effortlessly swinging the blade to the side and slashing at the beast's leg.

Seven landed soon after the strike and assessed her handiwork. She had severed a wire that connected the cat's paw to its body and now the creature couldn't control its limb from the elbow joint down. She had rendered the paw entirely disabled.

A new injury didn't stop the beast from attacking again. Seven dodged the wounded monster's attack, rolling out of the way as it blindly snapped at her. The dodge didn't discourage the beast, and it closed in on clambered up a pile of debris and raced over a plank of wood that was overlying the heap, allowing the limping monster to follow her from a safe distance. She ran all the way to the end of the plank and stopped about eight feet up in the air.

The beast snarled, believing its prey to be cornered. However, when Seven lifted her helmet and smiled a sly smile, it was clear that the predator had been the fool of this game rather than prey.

The wooden beam trembled and slid to one side like a giant seesaw. The cat beast scrambled to climb up the beam, but instead went down with it. Seven however kept her balance as best as she could with her feet firmly planted on the board before she gracefully leaped a safe three feet off the ground. The beast only caught a glimpse of its would-be prey running off into the distance.

Seven scowled at the failed attack as she ran, hearing only a heated roar in the distance as she returned to the library.

* * *

The twins' optic lights flickered as Seven returned to the library that day. They greeted her in flashes of _Hello,_ and _How was the fight?_ but received no answers to their questions. The pale doll was too lost in thought to talk.

Seven went to her corner of the library where her books lay waiting for her. She flipped through nearly every page of the volumes she could reach. Still, she could find no new battle secrets. Frustrated, she flipped pages over and over with her metal hands, desperate to find something–the essential secret to success.

Three and Four watched Seven's fit with pity. Lately she had been so focused on her task that she rarely spoke to them at all. The hunt was no longer a quest; it was an obsession. Seven didn't even remove her helmet or shield when she came home anymore.

But pity was not the only reason that the twin dolls went to Seven's side. They had something they wanted to show her. Three tugged on Seven's right arm while Four tugged on her left as they led her to their surprise.

"What is it?" the warrior asked, trying to ignore her frustration.

The twins didn't answer though and led her to their great elevator. Seven hadn't taken a good look at the contraption when she came in, but now she saw the glory of what the two had finally achieved.

"You finished it?" she asked.

The twins nodded and gestured for her to step onto the platform. Seven wasted no time with that idea and soon the twins were right beside her. Three pulled a tiny lever at the side of the elevator and soon the device began to spin upward all around the globe. Seven almost smiled as they zoomed past the volumes and treasures of the past, heading up toward a small crack in the ceiling where light poured in.

Three stopped the contraption when it reached the top shelf and the twins scampered out. Seven noticed that they had stocked this particular shelf with scraps of fabric for sleeping and some light reading material for both of them.

"Not a bad room at all," Seven remarked.

_It's yours too, if you want it, _Four flashed.

_We know you like being up high when you sleep, _Three added.

The warrior smiled at the twins. "Well, thank you. You two really are amazing, you know that?" She paused and looked out the crack in the globe. She could see the emptiness going on for miles and miles beyond.

"Just think. Once that monster's gone, you'll be able to see the world. We can be free," she said, rather wistfully.

_And we'll see the others again, _Four clicked. Three smiled wide at that thought.

"Yes, yes, we will," Seven agreed, secretly trying to convince herself that the others would be as easily persuaded to come out of hiding as she hoped. After that last visit to the sanctuary, she prayed that Two would last long enough for her to free him.

Seven continued to look out at the horizon until after the sun set and the twins fell asleep. She knew that she would one day get out of the emptiness with her family beside her. They would all fly away, just as she had flown from the sanctuary and the beast.

* * *

_Author's Note_: This second-to-last chapter has also had very little revision, but there is a good reason this time. While before I was trying to avoid shifting the point of view, opening the chapter with the beast's point of view was crucial here. The actual fight scene was somewhat inspired by an animatic (storyboard for the non-savvy) I was working on at the time which was discontinued. Also, the song I've quoted is a little tricky to find. It's a bonus track on the original version ofHands All Over _called _No Curtain Call. _If you like Maroon 5 at all, you'll probably like the track._


	12. Wash Away

_**Before the Warrior**_

**Chapter Twelve:**

"_I'm a soldier, a wounded soul,_

_I must give up the fight._

_There's nothing more for me._

_Lead me away or leave me lying here…"_

**A few months later…**

The rain made a small crackling sound as it hit the ground. It was only a light shower now, but the thick clouds over the emptiness promised more to come. The bad weather didn't stop one rag doll from walking across the vast wasteland all alone.

After a while she reached the place she was headed to; the remains of the beast's lair. The old factory had been destroyed in a huge explosion in order to kill an enemy even more deadly than the beast.

She scowled at the thought. It was better not to think of the death machine now. She wanted to focus on her old feud with the great cat, and so she searched the wreckage for any remains of the monster.

She stopped when she found a long, metal object. She recognized it as once being one of the beast's many razor sharp claws. Her eyes narrowed as she slowly sunk into a fit of rage. She picked up the claw and, using all her strength, threw it across the factory room as hard as she could. Then she remembered the day when she had reigned victorious…or so it had seemed.

She had surprised the creature in its own den, sneaking up from behind and binding its teeth so that it couldn't bite her. It tried to shake her off, but she instead leaped up into the air. She had finally found the beast's weak spot. So she sent her spear slicing right through the many cables the beast had for a neck, killing it instantly. It was a good thing she had killed it too, for the beast had cornered Two, Five, and the newcomer Nine.

Yes, for that one brief moment, she was the brave heroine, but that moment ended too soon.

She remembered Two, almost immediately after her victory, putting his body between Nine and the activated talisman that instantly devoured his aged soul.

She remembered the noises of Eight's struggles as the Machine consumed him, while she waited for her own horrible fate.

She remembered how Five fell to the machine and she instantly shielded the twins from the sight. She could not bare to watch Six perish after that.

One's death had been from a distance, and though the pain emerged later on, at the time she had been focused on Nine. Out of grief and fear of losing both of them, she winced at that memory.

She huffed once more in anger, then fell to her knees and silently wept. Crying brought her into the darkness, falling into her failure and grief. If she had only done something, then weak Two would have lived. Who knew what else might have changed if she had made a different choice?

"I'm sorry, Two," she whimpered, "–I'm sorry to all of you."

She sat there, sobbing with no tears to show, for a long time. She was so wrapped up in her sorrow that she didn't hear the footsteps of another of her kind behind her. She heard nothing until a familiar voice said her name.

Seven?"

She sat up with a start at hearing that. "Nine! Wh-what are you doing here?" she asked.

The burlap doll scratched at the stitching on the back of his head as he thought of how to voice his concern for his friend without upsetting her. "Well, it's getting dark, and the rain is coming in, so I followed you to make sure that you were alright. You left construction early."

Seven looked to the ground. Now she was putting La Vita Nuova behind. She should have stayed to work on the boat that would take her band of survivors out of the emptiness, especially as it was her plan in the first place, but she had been so drawn to the factory that she had no choice.

"I'm sorry," she said, near silent. "I just needed to be alone and… think, I guess."

Nine didn't quite understand why Seven had left their group without notice, but he could tell by her tone that it was for a serious reason. "Are you sure you're alright?" he asked carefully.

Seven nodded.

"All right," he replied and began to walk away. He really didn't want to leave the warrior doll behind, but he knew that if he pressed the issue further, she would probably get angry. He intuitively added, "I miss them too."

Seven shook her head, trying to hold back her pain around the young male. "You don't understand how much _I_ miss them, Nine." She pounded a fist against the ground. "I had a job to do."

"What do you mean?" Nine asked, taking a step back toward her.

"He said so," she murmured, "–the scientist. He-he told me to find them, and that I had a job to do. I was supposed to free them all…and all I did was watch them die, one by one."

"Seven…" Nine started, the realization of her sorrow hitting him.

Seven let a silent sob escape, not caring that she was showing her weakness. "I'd rather have died than…"

Nine interrupted her. "But you didn't know how to stop the machine. None of us would have been able to destroy it alone. Seven, what you did with the beast was the greatest thing anyone of us accomplished. You took down a monster easily ten times your size…solo!"

"But what was it all for now that they're all dead?" she asked, angrily. "Tell me that, _wise leader_."

Nine opened his mouth to speak, but couldn't say anything. There was no point in arguing any longer. Seven was wallowing in misery, and misery that he had partially caused. He had opened the red eye of death. No matter how the faces of the family he had barely known haunted him, they would never come back. And worse, his mistake hurt his family that was still living even more.

"Their fate was never in your hands," he said simply, looking to his feet as he left.

And though Nine's words didn't console Seven's dark thoughts, she knew that they were true. Two was on the verge of death when she had tried to destroy the beast. Any of the younger dolls could have fallen to some tragic fate in the emptiness even with newfound freedom. She supposed that the coven could have chosen to waste away in that cathedral even after she killed the danger at hand. It was Nine's arrival that had brought them together to fight their great enemy.

In the end, Nine had saved all that there was to save, and he didn't even know it.

_But why did I even bother if I couldn't do anything?_ she thought, looking up at the great sky for some kind of answer as a raindrop hit her on the head. That drop on the head made her remember why she had left the coven, and why she had risked her life for such a hollow feeling.

She remembered pleading to the others to try to find the twins, only to be turned away.

She remembered the joy of finding the twins again after believing the worst.

She remembered looking over the emptiness in the library, imagining herself and the twins as birds…the bird that flew away.

She remembered how stunned she was when Nine had risked his life to save her from the seamstress beast, as it was the most courageous thing she had ever seen.

She remembered the moment when the souls were free. She had even said, "They're free now."

The fight for her family's freedom was the reason she had left. In a sad way, One, Two, Five, Six and Eight were free now. Death had saved them from a life of misery and fear. She knew that she would probably always wonder if there could have been some other way, but there was some peace in their passing that way. Three, Four, Nine and her were free as well, but only heaven knew what awaited them in the future.

Seven smiled as the rain washed the dust off her canvas skin. Though the wounds in her heart were not fully healed (nor would they ever fully be healed), she felt better. She would find Nine and thank him for his words. The kind, brave fellow deserved that from her.

The warrior returned to her tiny coven with relief in her soul and rain soaking through her shoulders. She knew that she still had a job to do.

"_From on high, somewhere in the distance,_

_There's a voice that calls,_ _'Remember who you are._

'_If you lose yourself, your courage soon will follow,_

'_So be strong tonight. Remember who you are…'"_

_-Bryan Adams._

**The End.**_  
_

* * *

_Author's Note: Ooh, the story I have to tell for this ending! Technically, the ending was the first scene I thought of. When I had just started out in this fandom, I thought of Seven sitting alone in the rain and thinking over the deaths of her comrades. Originally, Nine had comforted her, whereas in this version she must overcome a moment of grief on her own. There was another reason that I knew the ending would be this way early on in the writing process, however. In October 2010, not even two months after chapter one was posted to this site, my father died. At the time I was not really dealing with the grief, but it did give me plenty of moments to reflect on his passing and my family's new life–just as Seven has here. I even remember a day where I sat in my car, listening to the song I quoted here, and just watched the rain fall on the windshield, waiting. When this story was finished in the following summer, I began to feel the full emotions of my grief and guilt, and thus I feel that my connection to my personal tragedy and Seven's character was complete.  
_

_Beyond the love-letter I have essentially written to Seven's character and this chapter, I tried to focus how Two's death had affected Seven (if it isn't obvious, he's supposed to represent a father-figure to Seven) in this revision. I also wanted to introduce more of Nine and Seven's budding friendship, if not stronger than that, in this revision as well. Hopefully that came across well enough.  
_

_Thank you for reading this fanfiction, whether you enjoyed my bits of commentary or not. The fact that you've read through one of my longest and most emotional pieces of work is a huge support for me creatively. If you like _9_ fanfiction, I would highly recommend the writers I thanked in the beginning note.  
_

_*S. Snowflake  
_


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